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How to Choose the Right Shade of Mineral Foundation

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 at
8:18 am

Choosing the right color makeup is always challenging, so in today’s post I’m going to give you some tips on how to choose the right shade of mineral foundation. Mineral makeup is an extremely popular makeup for acne prone skin, but picking the correct shade is more difficult because of the powdery consistency. Oily skin can make it look darker after it has sat on your skin for a little while. At the same time, the type of lighting in stores or at home can give a deceptively lighter or darker look.

Here are a few tips for making sure you get the perfect, natural look you want with your mineral powder foundation:

1. Pick at least 2 or 3 shades to test out, so that you can compare them.

2. Put the three colors next to each other against your jaw line. That where you will want to make sure that your makeup “disappears”, so that you avoid the dreaded mask look.

3. Use whatever moisturizer you normally apply underneath makeup and let it set first.

4. If you have sensitive skin and tend to get a little red, let it calm down after wiping off your existing makeup.

5. If your skin is oily, try picking a slightly lighter shade than your natural color. It can get darker as your skin gets oily.

6. If your skin is dry, pick a color that matches exactly. If you go too light, you will look chalky.

7. Don’t just listen to the salesperson’s opinion. Bring a friend to give honest advice on color.

8. Check the color in different parts of the store under different lighting. Take a mirror and look at it in natural daylight as well.

9. Whether you buy your foundation in a store or online, ask for a sample or two to bring home and try out. Online stores will often provide them as well.

10. If worse comes to worse, you can mix two shades of foundation to get one that matches your skin exactly.

A couple of final notes:

Always try to let your foundation sit on your skin for an hour or so before you make a decision. Just go off and do some shopping or something else. Then come back and look again.

Remember to blend the foundation over your jaw line, otherwise you might still look like you’re wearing a mask – even if the shade matches exactly!

Even if you follow my tips on how to choose the right shade of mineral foundation, it’s possible that you won’t get it perfect the first time. So, make sure you keep all your receipts. I’ve never had a time where a store or website wouldn’t take back makeup that didn’t suit me.